The area in Edward Street where professional beggars have been known to sleep overnight.

GARDAI and councillors in Tralee Municipal District are encouraging people not to give money or food to people described as ‘professional beggars’ operating in town since late last year.

The Sinn Fein councillor said well-meaning people trying to help them were being ‘taken for a ride’ by these beggars.

Speaking on ‘Kerry Today’ on Radio Kerry this morning, Cllr Pa Daly said there are people being transported into town for a day or so at a time where they beg for money on the streets and stay overnight, usually by what was the old ESB building on Edward Street.

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Gardaí briefed members of the Tralee Municipal District yesterday and said that on one occasion one of the beggars was arrested and found to have had between five and six hundred euro on her and the keys of a BMW.

CCTV footage in the area also revealed that the beggars had been given food by kind-hearted people, only for them to throw it in the bin as soon as those people left.

Gardaí told councillors that the beggars come in from the north Cork area to Tralee, Killarney and Cork city and stay overnight.

Cllr Daly said they are making a lot of money at what they do and people should not give them anything.

He said these people have been offered accommodation by the Homeless Unit in Kerry County Council and they have refused it. He said this unit is doing tremendous work with genuine cases of homelessness.

Cllr Daly said the some people’s sense of outrage when they witness gardai asking these beggars to move on is misplaced.

He said that, in Tralee, all homeless people are being looked after and there are no genuinely homeless people on the streets overnight.

Cllr Daly said homelessness is, of course, a serious problem and people in Tralee have been placed in temporary, hostel accommodation and they are not getting a chance to move on. Many get involved in alcohol, drug abuse and petty crime.

He said single people are particularly not been catered for in Tralee in terms of getting local authority housing.